The invention relates to an organic photodetector, which may be used for infrared radiation, particularly in the spectral region of over 1100 nm, the so-called imager region. The invention also relates to a method for the production of such a photodetector and for the use thereof.
WO2007/017470 discloses an organic photodetector in which an inorganically-based transistor matrix is used through a passivation layer as a substrate for the simple and cost-effective production of an organic photodetector.
Photodetectors that operate in the spectral region of over 1100 nm have hitherto only been known on an inorganic basis. There are so-called bolometers, which undergo a change in resistance when heated by IR-radiation. There are also photodiodes made from inorganic narrowband-gap semiconductors (II-VI, IV-VI). Finally, there are quantum well and quantum dot IR photodetectors, which are grown epitaxially from semiconductors with different band gaps and which likewise detect radiation in the longer-wavelength IR region.
The disadvantage of all these systems, however, is that they are produced using considerable quantities of costly and toxicologically questionable semiconductor materials, such as—for example—indium gallium arsenide, germanium and/or lead sulfide. Moreover, production of the known photodetectors is a technically complex and expensive process.